Monday, July 10, 2017

Hello! And welcome to day 10! I've just wasted an hour trying to get a cha cha cha version of a Nutcracker Suite song to play without skipping, and nothing I did worked. So I'm a little frustrated tonight. It's very rare that I come across a record that I can't play without skipping, I've got quite a few tricks up my sleeve, but this one just wouldn't cooperate. So that's one track you aren't going to be hearing tonight, sorry. Let's take a look at what I do have to share tonight. I think all the tracks this evening are pulled from stuff I recorded for the un-heard Christmas in July 2016. Here goes.

1. Silver Bells From The Paramount Picture "The Lemon Drop Kid" by Kitty Kallen & Richard Hayes from the LP Kitty Kallen Sings (Mercury Wing SRW 16241, Electronic Stereo, 1963). I was so excited when I picked up this record and saw this track on there. I ran home and ripped it pretty quick. I think they recorded this for a single back in 1950, but I've never seen it.

2. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers by Ken Griffin, not from his Christmas album but from The Sparkling Touch!-Bright And Merry Organ Favorites (Columbia CL 1709, Mono, 1961). It could be on his Christmas album, but I didn't look to see.

3. The Things We Did Last Summer by Eydie Gorme-Arranged And Produced By Don Costa, one of a few tracks I'll be sharing from her LP Love Is A Season (ABC-Paramount ABC-273, 1959). Not sure how it happened, but side one of my LP is in stereo while side two is in mono. Luckily this track was on side 1 so it's presented here in stereo.

4. Snowball by The Four Populaires from the LP The Four Populaires At Greenbrier (Squire LP 553 A-B "At The Greenbrier, White Sulpher Springs, W. Va.", Mono). Another LP by some local group that wanted to sell a souvenir at gigs. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, you just never know what you're going to get. Not sure that this one has anything to do with Christmas, but the title is good.

5. Green Sleeves by Kurt Jensen & His Orchestra from the album Complete Dance Party (Hallmark Blue Label Series HLP 305, Stereo). And another one from somebody few people ever heard.

6. O Holy Night by Helen Harbourt Zingg, Soprano; Male Chorus; Julius C. Zingg. F.A.G.O., Organist And Director, from their album Union Choir Sings (Mirrorsonic CM 7135, Mono). And then there's the records that are pressed up by groups who just want a record of their singing. Lots of these, too.

7. Greensleeves by Buck Owens' Buckaroos-Fiddle Solo By Don Rich from a Buck-less LP called Anywhere, U.S.A. (Capitol ST 194, Stereo, 1969). Did I really just put a second version of Greensleeves in the share tonight? Sigh...

8. Snowfall by Hugo Winterhalter from his great unknown LP A Season For My Beloved (ABC-Paramount ABCS-447, Stereo, 1963). I guess Mr. Winterhalter got tired of being the house everything at RCA after a while and went to record this LP for ABC. Not sure how that worked out for him, it's not something you see very often.

And that's it. Eight more tracks, we're headed in the right direction. See you tomorrow!

Got Vinyl?

Ernie's Christmas record want list. There might be something in that stack of Christmas records you want to throw out that I need. Actually, there's a lot more that I need that I don't know about, so send 'em all to me (especially singles)! (Revised 03 March 2018)